Creative Money-Earning Projects

Packs, troops, and crews are using effective, and often innovative, techniques to fund their annual program activities.

More than 80 percent of the students at Sunrise Elementary School in Albany, Ore., are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches — one of the highest rates in the state. So it is not surprising that Cub Scout Pack 391, which serves the boys in that school, relies heavily on money-earning projects to support its program.

“Incomes are generally low and seasonal for many parents, so the fund-raising efforts are very important,” said Cubmaster Mike Ransom.

Once a month or so, pack members canvass nearby neighborhoods, collecting cans and bottles that they later redeem for cash under Oregon’s “bottle law.” (Oregonians pay a five-cent refundable deposit on beverage cans and bottles.)

During the summer, the Cub Scouts expand their efforts, visiting some upscale neighborhoods where residents are more likely to recycle containers rather than haul them back to the store.

Ransom said boys get really excited when they hit their first “mother lode”—a home where someone has been saving up containers for them.

In a couple of hours, the Scouts bring in $200 to $250. The regular drives generate enough money to pay for handbooks, uniforms, and activities like day camp and resident camp.

“We have managed to raise enough funds in recent years to cover anyone who wants to go to camp,” Ransom said. “And they all want to go.”

Mulch pays the way

Pack 391 is one of many Scout units that have developed creative and innovative ways to fund their programs.

Add your own holiday candle to this Sherwood Forest Farms centerpiece of Noble Fir, Western Red Cedar, and Berry Juniper.

Across the continent in Fairfax Station, Va., money isn’t quite as tight for the families of Boy Scout Troop 994. So the troop’s annual hardwood mulch sale allows it to plan big adventures, including trips to the Florida high adventure sea base.

Each spring, the troop sells more than 10,000 bags of mulch to residents of five neighborhoods, who use the mulch to beautify their gardens and flowerbeds. Most of those customers have bought mulch from the troop before, making the sales job relatively easy. All the troop has to do is send out letters over the winter, distribute fliers, and place announcements in a few community newspapers.

If selling 13 or 14 tractor-trailer loads of mulch is easy, distributing it in a single weekend can be a challenge. The troop uses a fleet of 10 box trucks to deliver the mulch along pre-planned routes, carefully managing every step of the process to ensure accuracy.

Silverbrook Nursery supplies the mulch, brings it to the staging area, and provides a forklift driver to load it, five pallets at a time, into the waiting trucks.

“If you didn’t have a partner like this, then I don’t know how you’d go about it,” said Scoutmaster Buck Gastrell.

The troop aims to earn about a dollar per bag after expenses, money that supports its operations for an entire year. To maximize income, the troop offers to return later and spread the mulch for an additional $2.50 per bag; that money is shared among the Scouts who work.

“We had boys who went to the national jamboree, to sea base, and summer camp” all in the same
year, said Gastrell. “[With­out fund-raising,] that’s absolutely a drain on a family.”

Wrap and bag

Of course, keeping the cost of Scouting low for individual families is a primary benefit of unit money-earning efforts. But participation can also teach Scouts about salesmanship, budgeting, and even gift-wrapping.

Jacob West and Mark Fernandez of Troop 57 in Tampa, Fla., wrap gifts for Wal-Mart shoppers.

Last year, members of Boy Scout Troop 57 and Venturing Crew 57 in Tampa, Fla., spent the two days before Christmas wrapping gifts for customers leaving a local Wal-Mart. Including a matching gift from the store, they earned about $4,000, said Crew Advisor Karen Bettin, who led the project.

“Some people don’t give you anything,” she said. “Some people will give you $50 for wrapping one gift.”

Bettin said project expenses are minimal because she purchases paper and other supplies at closeout prices during the previous year’s after-Christmas sales. “It’s almost pure profit,” she noted, adding that 90 percent of the income was allotted to individual Scouts and Venturers based on their participation.

So how did the packages look? “The first year, some of them were quite embarrassing,” Bettin acknowledged. Since then, however, the Scouts and Venturers have become quite accomplished.

Bettin’s units are successful because they have identified and met a specific need. The same is true of Troop 888 in Baton Rouge, La.

According to Assistant Scoutmaster Scott Calkins, many Baton Rouge car dealerships buy lunch for their salespeople on Saturdays, which encourages them to stay on the lot and sell cars. Troop 888 often provides those lunches, earning up to $3.50 from each $6 lunch, which typically includes half a barbecued chicken, rice dressing, and a roll.

“We’re able to provide them a service where the employees can actually get some lunch and not have to leave the dealership,” Calkins said.

Last April, the troop sold nearly 700 lunches, clearing more than $3,000. About 200 went to car dealerships, while the Scouts sold the rest through presales and a stand in front of an area Wal-Mart.
(A local Knights of Columbus council cooked the chickens in a special trailer-mounted rotisserie unit that can handle as many as 150 chicken halves at a time.)

“Whatever product is sold has to be something people will buy because they’re going to use it,” said Dick Schmidt, associate director of BSA’s Finance Support Division.

Even better than an item people will use is one they will use up. Assuming people like the product, they probably will buy it again the next year.

That’s been the experience for Pack 33 in Boise, Idaho. After more than five years of selling Christmas wreaths, garlands, and similar products from Seattle-based Sherwood Forest Farms, the pack can count on lots of repeat business.

“I’ve even had parents of past Cub Scouts selling for us just because people like the product,” said Cubmaster Cydney Shubin.

The Cub Scouts get most of their sales through their chartered organization, the First Presbyterian Church, where they set up sales tables on several Sundays each October. The remaining orders come from family members, friends, neighbors, and parents’ co-workers. Deliveries are made during the first week of December.

Shubin said the hardest part of the project is getting people to think about Christmas several weeks before Halloween. But equally hard might be stopping the project.

“I don’t think people would let me,” she said. “I think people would be upset if they didn’t get their wreath every year.”

Popcorn is popular

One product that many people buy again and again is popcorn, which is one reason it has become a popular money-earning item for units and councils across the country.

The 26-oz. Gourmet Caramel Corn with Almonds and Pecans from Trail’s End comes in a newly designed “Join Scouting” logo tin.

“I personally think units should sell popcorn,” Schmidt said. “It’s a great fundraiser. It benefits them, it benefits the boys directly, and it benefits the council. It’s one of those win-win-win situations.”

Scouting’s association with popcorn began almost three decades ago, when seven local councils started selling the product. Today, Schmidt said, “almost every council in America sells popcorn,” working through one of three preferred BSA vendors.

These vendors offer everything from plain and microwave popcorn to decorative tins filled with cheese-covered popcorn or caramel corn.

Many councils have gone beyond presales, letting units order extra popcorn to sell in front of stores (“show and sell”) or door to door (“show and deliver”).

Techniques like these — along with systematic outreach to past customers — allow some units to bring in $25,000 or more each year from selling popcorn.

Selling by computer

An innovative fund-raising tool some units are using is the Internet. Virginia Diner — the BSA’s newest preferred vendor — offers this option along with traditional presales of its peanuts and snack mixes.

The customers selected Pack 182 as their beneficiary, ordered online with a credit card, and received their products by mail, freeing the Scouts from having to process or deliver orders.

“The Internet is for the family and friends who are out of state,” explained Webelos den leader Keith Cexton. “They pay direct shipping, and they actually get it faster than when we order it ourselves.”

More than raising money

Experienced Scouters are quick to point out that well-planned money-earning projects can offer benefits beyond raising essential funds. They can provide an important service (such as reducing waste in landfills), increase awareness of Scouting in the community, and bring pack and troop families closer together.

In Tempe, Ariz., Troop 474’s ongoing flag project raises Scouting’s profile — and a lot of money — each year. On seven major holidays, the Scouts post American flags in front of the homes of about 200 area residents who have bought a $30 annual subscription. The project lets people support Scouting and their country all at the same time.

The troop often promotes a local restaurant’s customer-appreciation night, receiving 20 percent of the restaurant’s take in return for bringing in customers on a typically slow weeknight.

Many of those customers are Scout parents, which is fine with Scoutmaster Dave DiPietro.

“The parents always sit there and have dinner and chat, so it’s a good social opportunity for the troop,” he said. “You get to meet the parents you don’t normally meet, and you get to comment on events coming up.”

(Note: While Troop 912 works informally with a local restaurant owner, some national and regional chains offer more formal fund-raising programs. Participation may vary between corporate and franchised stores, so contact local managers for more information.)

Fund-raisers also allow units to quietly help members who have special financial needs. Many units set aside a portion of their income to fund assistance programs.

“I don’t care where you live. There are always, always families in need,” said Buck Gastrell of Troop 994.

In the end, however, the main benefit of every good money-earning project is simple: to support programming.

“We’re not in the mulch business,” Gastrell said. “We’re Scouts, and all we need is enough money to sustain our plans.”

The Great Antler Auction

The best product sales work because your unit has something buyers want — not just because they want to support Scouting. A good example is the antler auction that has been held for the past 40 years by the Grand Teton Council’s Jackson District.

Each spring, local Scouts comb the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Wyo., for antlers the elk have shed. Those antlers — prized for use in everything from Western décor to Asian medicine — are auctioned during an event called Elkfest in May.

In 2007, the Scouts raised nearly $70,000, 80 percent of which went back to the refuge for use in winter feeding programs. (The other 20 percent goes to support local Scouting programs.)

“It’s been great partnering with the refuge folks,” said district chairman Paul Vogelheim, who has been involved with the project for a decade. “Our donations to them over the years have been over a million dollars.”

— M.R.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

Units often make a portion of the funds from money-earning projects available to individual members by covering summer-camp fees or depositing money in special accounts for Scouting use. Doing so encourages higher participation and rewards those members who work harder. The details vary widely, however. Here are a few examples:

– ?Pack 391, in Albany, Ore., gives “Scout bucks” to boys who participate in its can and bottle drives. These Scout bucks can pay for uniforms, equipment, and activity fees.

– ?Proceeds from Troop 994’s mulch sale go to the troop, and some level of participation is required from each family. Scouts who later help spread mulch split all the profits based on the hours they work.

– ?Troop 474 reserves 15 percent of the profits from its flag project for its general fund. The other 85 percent goes into Scout accounts.

– ?Profits from Pack 33’s wreath sale all go into the pack’s general fund, which keeps dues low and allows for special purchases such as model-rocket kits for all the Scouts.

– ?Troop 3 in Brookwood, Ala., manages three parking lots during University of Alabama football games. If a Scout (or his parent) works all eight games, his summer camp and an additional weeklong summer trip are paid for.

The Unit Money-Earning Application

The Unit Money-Earning Permit Application (No. 34427A, available for download fromwww.scouting.org/forms) is an essential element of any successful fund-raising project.

The application requires three unit signatures — unit leader, committee chair, and chartered organization representative — which reduces the chance that a single leader will commit the unit to a risky project. Moreover, the application lets the local council intercede if a fund-raising vendor has a bad track record or if a project would conflict with other nonprofit organizations or local merchants.

Perhaps as important as the application itself are the 10 guidelines on the back. By carefully following those guidelines, units should be able to steer clear of projects that violate BSA policies (like
not allowing raffles) or that simply wouldn’t be effective.